From: Diane.Amell**At_Symbol_Here**state.mn.us
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Shorts and Skirts in Labs
Date: November 10, 2008 11:01:03 AM EST
You are correct. Federal OSHA, NIOSH, and several other groups have
all removed restrictions on contact lenses in most settings. Proper
eye and face protection is still required. (Apparently, some people
believed incorrectly that contact lenses by themselves were adequate
eye protection.)
The best summary on the subject is the NIOSH Current Intelligence
Bulletin 59: Contact Lens Use in a Chemical Environment, which can be
found at http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/2005-139/. Articles on the
subject were published in the Volume 2 Number 1 (January/February
1995) and Volume 9 Number 2 (March/April 2002) issues of Chemical
Health & Safety.
Federal OSHA standards that recommend against the use of contacts in
certain chemical environments include:
Acrylonitrile
Ethylene oxide
Dibromochloropropane (DBCP)
4,4'-Methylenedianiline
1,3-Butadiene
Methylene chloride
Recent federal OSHA documents have recommended that contacts not be
worn in dusty environments or around anhydrous ammonia. The
recommendations against contacts in the federal lab standard
(1910.1450) came from the 1981 version of Prudent Practices in the
Laboratory: Handling and Disposal of Chemicals. It would be
interesting to ask our colleague working on the latest edition where
they are headed.
- Diane Amell, MNOSHA

The content of this page reflects the personal opinion(s) of the author(s) only, not the American Chemical Society, ILPI, Safety Emporium, or any other party. Use of any information on this page is at the reader's own risk. Unauthorized reproduction of these materials is prohibited. Send questions/comments about the archive to secretary@dchas.org.The maintenance and hosting of the DCHAS-L archive is provided through the generous support of Safety Emporium.